about the book
In August 1976, ten-year-old Sunny Lewin flying by herself from Pennsylvania to West Palm Beach, Florida, where she is going to spend the end of the summer with her Gramps at his Pine Palms Retirement Village—instead of going to the lake front cottage with her family. How bad can it be with Gramps? Disney World is right there, right?
Gramps has all sorts of fun plans for them both. Sunny just didn’t expect it would be running errands to the local pharmacy or catching early bird specials at the closest diner. The place is filled with old people…really, really old people. Grouchy old men. White haired old women with lots of rules. Also really bad eight track tapes of Lawrence Welk!
As if that isn’t bad enough, Sunny can’t even retreat to her room. She is stuck with a squeaky pull-out sofa bed!
Luckily she does manage to make a friend. Buzz, the son of the groundskeeper, is obsessed with comic books. They spend hours together sharing stories. Since Pine Palms is on a golf course, they also encounter golf ball snacking alligators, make a little money finding lost cats, and investigate disappearing neighbors.
But in between the good times, Sunny has flashbacks. There is a reason why she is in Florida, and we slowly learn is not a happy one. For a long time now, she has been keeping secrets. Her much older brother, Dale, has been hanging with a bad crowd, smoking, drinking, and doing drugs. And Sunny has been helping keep their parents in the dark.
Until the fourth of July. That day, Dale got caught drunk…or high…and when he took a swing at Dad, he hit Sunny instead. She doesn’t know when she can go home, and she certainly can’t let Gramps know what is going on with the family. Keeping all these secrets is getting to Sunny…
And when she discovers that Gramps is smoking on the sly, she blows! Keeping secrets and hurting the ones who love you is just not a good thing!
about the author
Jennifer Holm was born in California and raised in Audubon, Pennsylvania. A neighbor recalls watching young Jennifer rake the yard with one hand while holding a book in the other, reading nonstop.
Being the daughter of a practical pediatrician father, Jennifer decided to pursue international studies at Dickenson College. She took a very practical job at an advertising agency as a broadcast producer and writer. And then her life changed when a relative sent her a copy of her Finnish-American grand-aunt’s diary. It inspired Jennifer to write Our Only May Amelia which won a Newbery Honor. Her practical dad called her to say, “I think you should take this writing more seriously!”
After writing the Babymouse series, the very first graphic novels for children, with her illustrator brother Matthew Holm, she went on to write a mystery series co-authored with her husband, several historical novels, and a book inspired by her Italian relatives, for which she won her second Newbery Honor.
Jennifer lives with her husband Jonathan Hamel, their children Will and Millie, and cat Princess Leia Organa in northern California. The best part of writing, Jennifer says, is that she can do it in her pajamas!
Sources:
Author biography: Amazon
Author biography: Wikipedia
Author interview: Miss Erin
Also by Jennifer L. Holm:
The Babymouse series. Random House Books for Young Readers. 2005-2016.
The Squish series. Random House Books for Young Readers. 2011-2016.
Comics Squad : Recess! (Comics Squad, Book 1). Random House Books for Young Readers. 2014.
about the co-writer/illustrator
Artist Matthew Holm is writer Jennifer L. Holm’s younger brother. How perfect is that! They are six years apart so there has never been any sort of sibling rivalry…though at times the older sister thing does make Jennifer a little manipulative. The main character of their much acclaimed Babymouse series was almost a dragon, and Jennifer hoped that they might be able to work a bare-chested hunk warrior into the story line! Thankfully, they decided to make their main character a girly pink mouse!
Kids love Babymouse as well as their second wildly successful series, Squish. More than 1.6 million copies of the two series have been sold. Matthew had to quit his full time job so he could keep up with all the illustrating he had to do for the sequels.
Jennifer and Matthew were raised in Aububon, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their father was a pediatrician and their mother a pediatric nurse, and they have two additional brothers. Matt has been drawing comics since he was in middle school. At Penn State University, he was a political cartoonist for the school newspaper and graduated with a degree in nonfiction writing.
After graduating, he joined Jennifer in New York, creating cartoons to self-publish on the net and working as a writer/editor at Hearst Corporation’s Country Living Magazine. He wrote about homebuilding, architecture, historic preservation, food, travel, and current events. After eight years, he left to draw cartoon mice full time. Now that he has a better handle on hectic illustrative schedules, Matt has gone back to work as a web creative director and business consultant at Hot Knife Designs, where he helps develop user-friendly web interfaces. Of course, that means his evenings and weekends are busy drawing cartoons.
Matt admits that he is a giant nerd. His tiny bedroom office is filled with aging computers, multiple screens, a huge printer, a disgusting tangle of power cords, tons of comics, too many sci-fi books to count, and an embarrassing collection of Star Wars figures and vehicles.
Sources:
Author/illustrator website
Author/illustrator biography: Wikipedia
Interview with Authors: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Also by Matthew Holm:
The Babymouse series with Jennifer L. Holm. Random House Books for Young Readers. 2005-2016.
The Squish series with Jennifer L. Holm. Random House Books for Young Readers. 2011-2016.
Comics Squad : Recess! (Comics Squad, Book 1) with Jennifer L. Holm. Random House Books for Young Readers. 2014.
read more!
Comics Squad : Recess! (Comics Squad, Book 1) by Jennifer L. & Matthew Holm
This graphic novel is a collection of eight comic books by well-known authors, all with themes about school and recess. The hilarious stories feature a pizza monster, talking cupcakes, ninja clubs, aliens, epic battles, superheroes first love, and unfortunate lunch room barfing!
Healing the Bruises by Lori Morgan
Young Julia and her mother are forced to move to a shelter, and then to a new apartment, after Julia’s father physically abuses her mother. Julia describes her sadness and the loss she feels, but also the positive things about her new home, school, and friends.